With Papiss Cisse a doubt for Newcastle United’s trip to Tottenham on Sunday, the Magpies are once again facing a tricky game in the Premier League without a striker capable of leading the line in the Premier League.

Siem de Jong remains sidelined through injury, Emmanuel Riviere is out of form and Facundo Ferreyra could soon be out of the club after failing to impress since moving to St James Park on loan.

The club may have spent significantly to bring new goalscoring options in over the summer, but there is an increasing sense among supporters that many of the players recruited may not be up the challenge facing the Toon.

It could have all been so different if Newcastle United had looked to Andrij Kramaric, the Croatian striker linked with several big clubs over the past two years, and a forward in fantastic form both domestically and in Europe.

The 24-year-old netted for the first time for his new club this week, scoring in a 2-1 win over FC Astra in the Europa League but anything Scepovic can do, Kramaric can do a whole lot better.

While his Serbian transfer rivalling was scoring his first goal, Kramaric was grabbing all of the headlines with a 13-minute hat-trick for Rijeka against Feyenoord.

That treble made it six goals in Europe for the Croatian as part of an overall tally of 20 goals in 21 games for his current employers and his fine form in front of net is not restricted to club football either.

Called up to the Croatia national team for the recent Euro 2016 qualifiers, Kramaric scored two in three games for Vatreni to mark himself out as one to watch.

Jack Beresford

Jack is a 27-year-old writer with experience in writing about sport in a range of guises. He’s something of a statto when it comes to soccer and has a passion for English football at all levels, as well as Serie A and the Bundesliga.